Experiences of the Allied Servicemen who were Prisoners of War at Servigliano, Italy

British Escapees from Camp 59—New Names

Below is a list of 24 British servicemen who escaped from Camp 59 in September 1943. Of these names, 22 are new to this site. I felt great satisfaction in adding them to the master Prisoner List page last night.

All of these escapees traveled south from the camp and safely reached the Allied lines.

The list is courtesy of British researcher Brian Sims. Brian’s father, T/221204 Dvr W. H. Sims, died at sea as a POW in November 1942. Brian’s accessing of records about the sinking of the S.S. Scillin by a British submarine as it carried POWs from Libya to Italy launched his over his over 20 years of research into POW records at the UK National Archives.

The two names that are not new to this site are H. Schofield and Howard F. Jones (H. F. Jones below).

Giuseppe Millozzi, in Allied Prisoners of War in the Region of the Marche and Prison Camp at Servigliano has written that H. Schofield was among the first to escape through the hole in the camp’s west wall, with fellow SAS soldier J. G. Whitlow on September 14, 1943.

Captain J. H. D. Millar, the British officer who was responsible for the evacuation of Camp 59 on September 14, 1943, said in his memoir that he left the camp with Howard F. Jones that night.

Although the records show that most of the men left camp the night of September 14, the record for F. T. Lockett indicates he left a day later, whereas the records of W. G. Newall and B. Guy indicate they left on September 12.

When I questioned whether the three men actually left on these earlier and later dates, Brian said it’s possible the dates could be wrong. “It was a time of great stress so little slip ups could occur,” he wrote.

“There is evidence that at least two sets of Reports made by Escapers through the Lines cannot be found, and that not 100% of Escapers into Switzerland made Reports. This is referred to by MI9 in comments made on a couple of Reports I have read.

“Many POW who were on the loose after the Armistice in Italy were killed by either the Italian Fascists or Germans. The War Crimes Files contain many accounts.”

Many thanks to Brian for sharing the list and allowing me to post it on this site.